EPILOGUE 549 



corn-hog wing of the cotton and corn-hog alliance within the Farm 

 Bureau. His formula for farm relief was "political pressure and co- 

 operatives." 



One of the most noteworthy contributions of the Farm Bureau was 

 the campaign that it waged in behalf of cooperative marketing and pur- 

 chasing. As a rule, cooperatives failed to attract the attention that they 

 deserved because they provided less exciting materials for writers than 

 did the legislative and political activities of the farmers. Some of the 

 associations failed to come up to the standards generally prescribed for 

 cooperatives, while in the early years the Bureau incited antagonism 

 because it established cooperatives in areas already organized by older 

 farm groups. Still, the successes scored by it more than offset the failures 

 and the work of associations of dubious cooperative standing. 



Originally, the Farm Bureau placed much faith in cooperatives and 

 commodity-pooling programs, but beginning in about 1924 its leaders came 

 around to the view that something more was needed. At this time it went 

 all out for "tariff equality," the need of "a fair exchange value" for the 

 farmers, and the equalization fee. When the Farm Bureau saw that the 

 McNary-Haugen measures had been defeated, it opportunistically en- 

 dorsed the program of the Federal Farm Board, and when that failed 

 it became a bulwark of support for the A.A.A. and parity. Meanwhile, 

 the Bureau interest in cooperatives continued, but this was overshadowed 

 by the more dramatic campaigns waged in behalf of "tariff equality'* 

 and parity. 



The Bureau is best observed in a pressure-group setting. Legislative 

 pressure was a byword in Bureau circles from the time of its inception, 

 and even more so after the New Deal had taken office. Bureau leaders 

 could hardly have been expected to overlook the encouragement given 

 the farmers by the new administration to come to Washington with their 

 own programs. Farm leaders had early discovered that having something 

 over which to agitate kept up the interest of members, attracted new 

 converts, and impressed legislators. Legislators and administrators also 

 became convinced that the Bureau was a force with which to contend; 

 they sounded it out on important legislation, compromising with it on 

 occasions or yielding to its demands. The Bureau was represented in many 

 important hearings, even those which remotely affected agriculture. 



